Drain connector for downspouts



Se t. 26; 1950 J. w. SHEA 2,

' DRAIN CONNECTOR FOR nownsvdu'rs Filed Au 28, 1948 I ICE-- .3. I

v INVEN TOR. #4455 W 6/6 54 Patented Sept. 26, 1950 NI'TED STATES PATENT OFFICE DRAIN CONNECTOR FOR DOWNSPOUTS James W. Shea, Detroit, Mich. Application August28, 1948, Serial No. 46,593

I This invention relates to an connector for a downspout.

Downspouts which lead from the cave troughs improved drain of a building are generally led into a fixed drain in the ground and connected thereto by cement or in some other permanent fashion. It is common to provide a screen in the upper endof the downspout to keep leaves or other refuse fromable section that is adapted to have its upper end detachably coupled with the lower end of 3 Claims. (01. 210-170) a downspout and have its bottom end-detachably coupled with the upper open end of a drain.

Thispimproved connector is so constructed thatit is adapted to form a suitable connection between the lower end of the downspout and the upper end of the drain even though such parts are ofiset somewhat with respect to each other; It is also so constructed that its lower end is adapted to be coupled with drain openings of somewhat different sizes. A further meritorious feature is that the connector is built up of a mineasily Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional View through a drain and downspout showing my improved con-f" nector partly in elevation and. partly in section therebetween.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional View taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View taken on the same line as Fig. 1 through slight modification. l r

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspec amodification.

a drain showing a.

've illustrating connector shown. A downspout is indicated as l4.- My connector comprises a piece of flexible tubing indicatedgenerally at It. It may be the conventional flexible tubing of commerce. It is of a size to telescope over the downspout i l and a set screw l8 might be provided to detachablysecure it to the downspout. At the lower end, this flexible tubing is adapted to'be received within the opening in a coverplate 20. This coverplate is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 as a circular plate which is upwardly convex and provided with an opening therein through which my connector projects. This opening is'flanged as at 22 to provide a seat that is adaptedto support a strainer 24. a

The strainer is a cup-shaped strainer and comprises a screen carried by a, band portion which seats upon the flange 22 and itself receives the lower end of the connector as shown in Figs. 1 and .3. The connector is removably received within the strainer. The strainer is removably seated within the opening in the coverplate.

The coverplate is made of a size to fit over a crock such as In or over a cast iron drain such as 26 shownin Fig. 3. The cast iron drain 26 is of a diiferent diameter from the crock it. The coverplate is provided with a series of apertures 28 adapted toreceive positioning pins or screws 3% as shown in Figs. 2 and v3 which screws are adapted to position the plate within the crock.

In Fig. 4, I illustrate a modified type of construction. The drain is indicated as 26. It has a bell-mouth 21. The coverplate is of a modified form and is here indicated as 32. It is provided with an opening 34 adapted to receive a strainer such as 24 and to receive the lower end of the it. This coverplate is upwardly 1 dished, but instead of having locating pins and I In the drawing a conventionaldrain crock is in dicated at It. This crock has a bell-mouth upper portion i2 which projects above the ground as apertures as described hereinabove, the periphery'of the coverplate is provided with a series of incisions 36. These incisions extend radially. They define lugs or tangs 38 which are capable of being bent downwardly out of the plane of the coverplate to engage over the upper margin of the drain as shown in Fig. 4.

The coverplate would be formed of metal sufficiently thin so that these lugs might be readily bent by the user. The incisions extend radially V to such a depth that the lugs may be bent so as to engage over the margins of drainsof different diameter. If the coverplate were used with a large diameter drain such as the bell-mouth i2 of the drain [0, the lugs 38 might even be bent downwardly to be received within the interior of the bell-mouth much as the pins 30 are shown to be in Fig. 1 instead of being bent to grip the outer surface of the drain.

As a supplemental strainer there is provided a second screen element 49 which is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 as seated within the bell-mouth of the drain elements,

The flexible character of the tube it? enables the tube to be bent in order to be connected to a downspout l4 which extends at an angle or does not directly overlie the drain crock H3, or to a drain crock which extends at an inclination to the vertical rather than in the upright position as shown.

What I claim is: I

1. A drain connector for a downspout comprising, in combination, a length of flexible tubing having means at its upper end adapted to removably connect the same with the downspout over which it is telescoped, an upwardly convex plate adapted to cover the open end of the drain, means carried by the plate adapted to position the same over theopen end of the drain, said plate provided with an Opening of sufficient size to receive the end of the flexible tubing therethrough from the top and a downwardly convex strainer receivable from the top through the opening of the plate and removably seated therein below the end of the flexible tubing.

2. A drain connector for downspout comprising, in combination, a length of flexible tubing having means at its upper end adapted to removably connect the same with the downspout over which it is telescoped, a circular plate adapted to cover the open end of the drain, means car- 4 ried by the plate adapted to position the same over the open end of the drain, said plate provided with an opening of sufficient size to receive the end of the flexible tubing therethrough and a cup-shaped strainer receivable through the opening in the plate and removably seated therein, said strainer adapted to removably receive the lower end of the flexible tubing therein.

3. A drain connector for a downspout comprising, in combination, a length of flexible tubing adapted at its upper end to be removably connected with the downspout, an upwardly convex plate adapted to cover the open end of the drain, the periphery of said plate being provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced slits forming fingers adapted to be bent out of the plane of the plate to engage the periphery of the drain either inside or outside, said plate provided with an opening for the lower end of the flexible tubing, a cup-shaped strainer removably seated within said opening, the lower end of the flexible tubing projecting through said opening and removably seated within the cup-shaped strainer.

JAMES W. SHEA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,150,231 Smith Aug. 17, 1915 2,446,256 Young Aug. 3, 1948 2,464,496 Gee Mar. 15, 1949 2,470,943 Page May 24, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 48,919 Germany Oct. 4, 1889 

